Inside the Mind of Gazza: Paul Gascoigne on Trauma, Fame & the Man Nobody Knows (E394)
The High Performance Podcast
High Performance
4.6 • 4.8K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2026
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Paul Gascoigne is one of the most gifted footballers Britain has ever produced. But behind the goals, the tears, and the headlines, who is the real man beneath the Gazza legend?
In this raw and deeply moving conversation, Jake and Damian sit down with Paul in his home in Bournemouth for one of the most honest interviews he has ever given. From growing up in Gateshead and witnessing a childhood tragedy that would shape him forever, to becoming the most famous man in Britain overnight, Paul opens up about the price of fame, the battle with addiction, and why humour has always been both his greatest gift and his greatest shield.
They talk about the moments that defined him - Italia 90, Euro 96, the tears, the goals, the missed chances - and the managers and teammates who believed in him when others had written him off. But more than football, this is a conversation about a man still standing. Still finding joy in the small things and the people around him who genuinely care.
As Paul himself says, people know Paul. But very few people know Gazza, including himself.
This conversation was recorded at Paul's house in 2024.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | People know poor gas going, but gaza no one knows. |
| 0:05.0 | The things I've put myself through, I'm lucky to still be sitting here, I think. |
| 0:09.0 | Thirty days in rehab and just sat in the room, paranoid the bits, afraid to do anything. |
| 0:15.0 | Twelve years of years, picking a dead body out of the coffin and kissing and cuddled and saying, sorry, then put them back down. |
| 0:20.0 | And then I stayed in that room for a few days |
| 0:21.8 | so I'm going to be a professional footballer he went do you know what in the million makes it |
| 0:26.9 | I went now I'm going to be that one hi there welcome along to high performance the show that delves |
| 0:34.7 | into the minds of some of the most fascinating people on the planet. We spent a fascinating, surreal, incredible day, actually, down on the south coast |
| 0:44.3 | of England, pool in Dorset. |
| 0:46.3 | Yeah, well, to get even more granular, Jake, we went to a residential street in Poole, |
| 0:51.3 | Dorset, where we happened to stumble upon the company of one of the |
| 0:56.4 | greatest footballers that England has ever produced. Indeed, living in the spare bedroom |
| 1:00.9 | of his agent on this street, the one and only, Paul Gascoigne. |
| 1:08.3 | Gaza! |
| 1:09.5 | I'm excited to you. I feel a bit nervous actually. |
| 1:12.6 | I just feel like I want to do his amazing life justice. |
| 1:15.6 | I don't want us to do what a lot of other people have done, which is just to focus on the chaotic moments in his life or the points where he'll know he's let himself down. |
| 1:22.6 | I agree with you, Jake. I think that too often we focus on the tragedy, don't we, rather than celebrate |
| 1:28.3 | what he did achieve, you know, in spite of some of the challenges that he had. And I think |
| 1:32.3 | to understand how he did become the most famous man in Britain celebrated as an iconic footballer. I think that story needs to tell him. |
| 1:41.3 | How does he end up here? Very quiet residential street in |
| 1:44.7 | Paul on the south coast of England. How has Gaza ended up living here? Do these people know |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from High Performance, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of High Performance and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.